Eat Static, Production Techniques?

[ghostwhistler]

I'm listening to some Eat Static (uk dance/techno offshoot from the Ozric Tentacles). I notice that in their music they have lots of sounds and parts that appear briefly, little textures effects bleeps and bloops and what not.

Some of these will be samples, but I don't think they all are.

Is there a workflow secret to this? It seems that setting up a synth, programming it and playing it, just to add something like this, seems awfully onerous. Am I missing something?

I mean, for reference, you can pick almost any track off this:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6AQ05xJH ... ZY8bRy3nhA

[Cyoon]

yes, it's tedious synth work to get it right, which is why these style takes ages to produce.

[Gamma-UT]

They’d either find or make and then chop samples as one-shots into a bunch of samplers (Akai and Roland) and then sequence or just improv onto multitrack. You don’t have to do while putting a track together, just futz around and sample anything that sounds vaguely worthwhile and pick from the collection later.

[ghostwhistler]

Some of it is samples, obviously. But some of the stuff has modulation, like filter sweeps, that make me think it's a synth. Not a sample that's then filtered. I could be wrong.

[MFXxx]

I sold a tc electronics fireworx to one of their acquaintances several years back, Salisbury if I recall. Anyway lots of modular I believe as well as the usual akais etc.

But I would say it's very close to psy trance in which case if it have a look at gsonique and poly verse plugins.

[Cyoon]

Eat Static is a goa/psytrance veteran act, yes. Basically you can use any synth to make these sounds. If you just start out, there are heaps of online tutorials, look out for Goa Trance leads and fx.


To get a first impression of the workflow and arrangement etc., maybe check out this one:

Here they show their rig also:

[vurt]

Some of it is samples, obviously. But some of the stuff has modulation, like filter sweeps, that make me think it's a synth. Not a sample that's then filtered. I could be wrong.

well, they have years of recordings to sample from. some of it they will sample notes then do filter sweeps in a sampler. modulation of all kinds is possible with samples too.

[ghostwhistler]

I sold a tc triple c to one of there colleagues several years back, north Dorset near Salisbury if u recall. Anyway lots of modular I believe as well as the usual akais etc.

But I would say it's very close to psy trance in which case if it have a look at gsonique and poly verse plugins.

What do those plug ins do?

[ghostwhistler]

Eat Static is a goa/psytrance veteran act, yes. Basically you can use any synth to make these sounds. If you just start out, there are heaps of online tutorials, look out for Goa Trance leads and fx.


To get a first impression of the workflow and arrangement etc., maybe check out this one:

Here they show their rig also:

Thanks!

[ghostwhistler]

It's good to learn about other styles of music

[morphex]

I saw Eat Static play a full live show back in the late 90's, when they were touring with "The Brain." It was fantastic night in one of the largest warehouses I've ever been in. I was dancing shoulder to shoulder with Goa Gil and friends from the Moontribe crew from California. There were loads of synths and cables everywhere! From what I could see, there were modulars set-up, and lots of quirky effects boxes on stage. Then everything basically went into two main mixers where they could control effects sends, and remix parts from backing tracks, etc.

It was a massive effort back then, and I'm still amazed at how much was actually played live on synths and effects processors, instead of simply relying on a playback system or DAT. No two sets ever sounded the same with them, even when they were DJ sets. Merv has always said that he wants each performance to stand on its own, whether it was a good night or a total train wreck. It was risky to perform that way, and that was part of what made the Psytrance underground scene so exciting.

[andymcbain]

From a workflow point of view - get your source material together before you even think about arranging the track. Get a beat going, record a LOT of arps / step sequencer parts etc... twiddle knobs, make cool noises. Record it ALL as audio. Then cut out the bits you like and throw them into your arrangement.

[ghostwhistler]

From a workflow point of view - get your source material together before you even think about arranging the track. Get a beat going, record a LOT of arps / step sequencer parts etc... twiddle knobs, make cool noises. Record it ALL as audio. Then cut out the bits you like and throw them into your arrangement.

Well sure, but would that have been how they worked back in the day, in the pre DAWn of time?

I don't really work with audio in that way. It's amazing what a difference workflow can make to it all really

[Gamma-UT]

From a workflow point of view - get your source material together before you even think about arranging the track. Get a beat going, record a LOT of arps / step sequencer parts etc... twiddle knobs, make cool noises. Record it ALL as audio. Then cut out the bits you like and throw them into your arrangement.

Well sure, but would that have been how they worked back in the day, in the pre DAWn of time?

https://www.soundonsound.com/people/eat ... rt-success

"I find that although a lot of our sounds may start on a synth, I just find the sampler a really good scratch pad for getting ideas together. For example, I'll get Joie to come over one night and I'll record two DATs full of SH5, then I'll go through it, using ReCycle and cutting it all up using the samplers. It's usually a really good way of starting tracks, and often gives me a lot of percussive as well as musical results."

[andivax]

Eat Static is the typical 90's techno/trance project.
That "Implant" track is basically Roland 909 + samples + heavily processed 303 + any analogue or VA synth.

For 2025 I would recommend d16 Drumazon 2 (909), d16 Phoscyon 2 (303), TAL Pha (Alpha Juno) and TAL Sampler.
Pro-800 hardware from Barbinger and Waldorf Wave (vst).
ODC 2800 for that fat bass.
I would also recommend NL2 (not X) synth or desktop. It is the main psy/goa powerhouse for many cult bands.

BTW Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross do the same stuff: old school drums (808 or 909) + modular synths.

Bear in mind "THAT" sound is heavily affected by the Akai/EMU samplers. That samplers adds grit and removes harshness.
To get ther you can use d16 Decimort or RX950.

Another (and more "canonical") way is to use NAM Universal + special libraries.
You can check my video, audio examples are there + links to the libs in the description:


Gear list:
SYNTHESIZERS:

ARP Axxe
Casio CZ1000
Korg Poly Six
Korg Prophecy
PPG Wave 2.3
Quasimidi Quasar
Roland SH5
Roland TB303
Roland SH101
Roland JD800
Roland JV80
Sequential Prophet 600
Waldorf Wave
SAMPLING:

Akai 3200XL (32Mb RAM & 540Mb internal hard disk)
Akai 3200 (32Mb RAM & 540Mb internal hard disk)
Roland S330
Roland W30
PERCUSSION:

Alesis HR16
Alesis SR16
Emu Procussion
Roland CR78 CompuRhythm
Roland TR808
Roland TR909
Roland TR707
Yamaha Resonator drum kit
COMPUTERS/SEQUENCING:

75MHz Pentium PC (16Mb RAM & two internal hard disks) running Steinberg Cubase Audio
Atari 1040ST (2Mb RAM) running Steinberg Cubase
RECORDING:

Mackie 32:8:2 desk & 24‑channel expander
Tascam DA38 8‑track
Tascam DA30 MkII DAT
PROCESSING:

BBE362 Sonic Maximiser
Boss SE70
Frankenstein stereo enhancer
Joe Meek compressor
LA Audio compressor
LA Audio noise gates
Lexicon Vortex
Lexicon Alex reverb
Roland DEP3
Roland SDE330 dimensional delay
Roland SRV330 dimensional reverb
Symetrix 511A noise reduction
Yamaha EMP700
MONITORING:

Alesis Monitor Two (main)
Yamaha NS10 (nearfield)
AMPLIFICATION:

Alesis Matica 500 power amplifier
MICROPHONES:

AKG C3000
Shure SM57 microphone
Tandy PZM microphone (x2)

Official samples:
https://www.bigfishaudio.com/Eat-Static ... -Loops-and